Spieker steals win in last-lap pass

CORNING — Chris Spieker used lapped traffic to his advantage pulling off a daring last lap pass to win the 25-lap Coors Light late model feature at Adams County Speedway on April 27.

Atlantic’s Jason O’Brien used his pole position start to lead the first twenty three laps of the race, while Spieker weaved his way through traffic from his outside row six start. John Hampel, Leon Zeitner, and Corey Zeitner all chased O’Brien throughout the race, but at the white flag it was Spieker pulling ahead for a miniscule lead.

On the final circuit Spieker used the high groove to perfection to pass two lapped cars while O’Brien was caught behind. Only six tenths of a second separated the 56 and 15 cars at the checkers, but two lapped cars were still between them.

Corey Zeitner, John Hampel, and Leon Zeitner rounded out the top five in a field of twenty-one late models.

Modified

Altoona’s John Davis started his year off strong taking the win in the Poet Biorefining modified feature holding off Jesse Dennis and Kirby Stiens. Davis started on the pole with regional hot-shoe Josh Most to his right and Most jumped out to lead the first three laps.

But as Most faded, eventually finishing 11th, it was Dennis, Stiens, Russell Stewart, and Brian Foote making up the top five behind Davis. Foote was the hard charger of the race coming from 15th to fifth in the 18-lap feature.

Pro stocks

Fifteen Northland Oil pro-stocks made the call for the opening night of the 2013 season. Creston’s Kevin Sharp, sporting new red colors for the season, earned the hard luck award for the night being forced to the trailer with less than one lap completed as he tangled with Joe Zadina in turn three.

Cody Clark used his inside row one starting position to lead the field for the first two laps, but Corning’s Tony Hardisty, who started directly behind Clark, moved to the lead on lap number three and never looked back. Clark held on to second with Jason Rold, IMCA regular Mike Harris, and Brad Derry in the top five.

Defending champion Greg Miller made his road to a repeat championship more difficult when he retired from the race three laps before the checkers with mechanical problems.

B-mods

Twenty-nine Stalker Chevrolet b-mods were on hand for the night and Woodbine’s Jon Plowman was the class of the field taking the win. In a race that was prolonged by several caution flags Plowman had to pick his route carefully as he moved forward from starting 12th in the field.

Stanton’s Josh Sink blasted to the front from his inside row four start to lead the first ten laps until Plowman made the pass for the lead. Council Bluffs Randy Archer finished second, followed by Jared Miller, Josh Cooper, and Steve Reetz.

The Chat Mobility hobby stocks opened the evening’s features with a lengthy caution while Adams County paramedics gently removed Villisca’s Curtis Gaunt from his number 9 hobby stock after a hard roll. Gaunt suffered a broken leg in the incident. Once racing action resumed it was a pair of Shelby County Speedway regulars showing their skills as Atlantic’s Dusty Van Horn and Walnut’s Kurt Hansen lead the final 10 laps of the race.

With Shelby County Speedway in Harlan not running due to wet grounds several of their regulars came to ACS to race the NASCAR regulars. Jamie Songer, Brett Sink, and Andy Davison rounded out the top five in the hobby stock feature.

Racing resumes at ACS on May 4 (weather permitting) with the annual Whelen Night at the speedway. Feature winners will be recognized with a special Whelen winner’s hat and a medal for the late model winner. Gates open at 5 p.m. with racing action at 7. For more details check out www.acspeedway.com or facebook.com/acspeedway.